298 MEMOIR OF HENNESSEY. 



magistrate myself, could not openly protect him ; and that 

 evening he left the lodge at night-fall, to shelter himself in the 

 island of Innisbiggle until the threatened danger passed. Kath- 

 leein unfortunately accompanied him ; although we told her 

 that there was but one poor family on the place, and its diffi- 

 culty of approach, while favourable to the concealment of her 

 husband, was unsuited to any female situated like her. 



" On landing on the island, the solitary family, who gene- 

 rally resided in the single cabin it contained, were absent at 

 the fair of Westport. Hennessey and his wife took possession 

 of the hut, lighted a fire, and made themselves as comfort- 

 able as the wretched hovel would admit. Even then he urged 

 her to return to the Lodge but to leave him in perfect soli- 

 tude on this desolate place was more than she could determine. 

 Night came, and the weather, which had been squally all 

 day, became worse momently, and at midnight blew a gale. 

 The outlaw and his wife were now shut out from all the world, 

 for a raging sea was roaring round the island, and all commu- 

 nication with the main was interrupted. Whether fear preci- 

 pitated the dreaded event I know not ; but in the middle of 

 the night, while the elemental war was in its fury, symptoms 

 of approaching travail were perceived by poor Kathleein, and 

 the unhappy girl became more and more sensible of the terrible 

 danger that was coming on. God of mercy ! what was to be 

 done ? It wanted some hours of morning, and even were it 

 light, until the tide fell no mortal could cross that stormy 

 water. 



" Poor wretch ! with a withered heart, all that he could do 

 to cheer his sinking companion was done ; but every hour she 

 became worse, and every moment her pain and danger were 

 increasing. Driven to madness, at the first dawn of morning 

 he rushed madly to the beach, and though the retiring tide 

 rushed between the island and the main with furious violence, 

 he plunged into the boiling eddies, and with great strength 

 and desperate courage made good his passage to the opposite 

 shore. 



fe To obtain help was of course attended with delay ; at last, 

 however, it was accomplished, and the tide fell sufficiently to 

 permit some females to cross ihefarset.* He, the unhappy 



main. 



* The stand communicating at low water betweeu an island and the 



